Foil Baked Fish with Lemon and Asparagus
This foil baked fish with lemon and asparagus has two of my favorite qualities in a recipe–easy prep and an elegant result.
Seafood recipes don’t show up here very often, but that may change now that we’ve made this one. When you combine fish with compound butter and fresh vegetables, you get an easy and delicious meal with endless adaptations. I was craving a light meal on a hot day, and we were blown away with this recipe. Something so simple should not taste this good. It doesn’t seem possible, but it is.
The preparation of this meal is so easy, and the results so good, that we were immediately brainstorming other flavor combinations the moment we started eating. The fish is rubbed with a garlic and herb butter, placed atop asparagus, wrapped in foil and baked. In less than 20 minutes, you’ve got a fresh meal with hardly any hands-on time. You can’t beat that! This foil baked fish with lemon and asparagus is such a lovely recipe for spring and summer. The hands off cooking lets you spend more time enjoying the beautiful weather.
Clara loved measuring out the herbs and pouring the wine over each packet of fish. We all loved how this tasted. You can serve it with bulgur pilaf, couscous or any number of other grains. With the hottest days of summer still ahead of us, I know I’ll be making many, many variations of this recipe. Anything that keeps me from standing over a hot stove in the middle of summer is a winner in my book!
- YIELD: 4 servings
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
Zest and juice of half a lemon
½ teaspoon dried herbes de provence
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound asparagus, woody ends removed
4 lemon slices, plus more for serving
4 (6-8 ounce) skinless white fish filets, about 1-inch thick
4 tablespoons dry white wine
- 1
Heat oven to 450º. Cut four pieces of foil, each about 10×14 inches. In a small bowl, use a fork to combine the butter, lemon zest and juice, herbes de provence, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.
- 2
Divide the asparagus evenly among the sheets of foil, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper, top with a lemon slice and set aside. Pat the fish dry and season with salt and pepper. Spread 1 tablespoon of butter onto each fish, then carefully transfer to the foil packets. Pour 1 tablespoon of wine over each. Wrap and seal the packets, then place on a baking sheet.
- 3
Bake until the fish is just cooked through and the asparagus is crisp-tender, 15-20 minutes. Open the packets carefully. Serve the fish and asparagus with the accumulated juices in the packet and extra lemon, if desired.
Yes please! Simple fish dishes like this are such a lifesaver when you have no time to cook, aren’t they? And SO good with fresh spring asparagus. Yay!
Yes please! Simple fish dishes like this are such a lifesaver when you have no time to cook, aren’t they? And SO good with fresh spring asparagus. Yay!
We always have fish in the freezer but I often can’t think of a “new” way to cook it. This looks delish! I’ll be adding it to next week’s menu for sure.
We always have fish in the freezer but I often can’t think of a “new” way to cook it. This looks delish! I’ll be adding it to next week’s menu for sure.
Such a smart easy recipe, Courtney! When we were getting our fish CSA at first I usually resorted to frying whatever we got because it just seemed the easiest, but I definitely got more comfortable experimenting with baking it as it went on. I’m basically always scared I’m going to screw fish up. Love your foil packet idea though!
I made foil-baked fish once before and it was crazy how tasty it was! Mine was lemony as well. Such a great flavor paired with fish.
I made foil-baked fish once before and it was crazy how tasty it was! Mine was lemony as well. Such a great flavor paired with fish.